Adaptive Behavioral, Social-Emotional, and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at 2 Years of Age in Hungarian Preterm Infants Based on Bayley III.

AIM: This study aimed to assess cognitive, language, and motor development as well as social-emotional and adaptive behavior skills of low birthweight (LBW) children.

METHODS

Our cohort contained 305 two-year-old LBW children. Developmental functioning was assessed by the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd Edition.

RESULTS

Performance in language, particularly in expressive communication was the poorest. Extremely low birthweight (ELBW) children were found to be at increased risk of developmental delay: 12.73 times in motor (95%CI = 2.8-57.5), 9.81 times in cognitive (95%CI = 3.2-29.6) and 3.91 times in language (95%CI = 1.6-9.4), and social-emotional skills (95%CI = 1.6-9.5). Parents of children with lower birthweight reported poorer social and practical adaptive skills. Self-care domain seemed to be the least developed.

CONCLUSION

Additionally, the screening for developmental delays, monitoring the adaptive behavior skills may also be useful - especially among ELBW children - in order to identify the specific areas, situations, and functions that are most in need of interventions.

ABBREVIATIONS: AB: Adaptive Behavior; ABAS-II: Adaptive Behavior Assessment System-II; BPD: Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia; BSID-III: Bayley Scales of Infant Development 3rd Edition; BW: Birthweight; CI: Confidence Interval; CS: Composite Score; ELBW: Extremely Low Birthweight; GA: Gestational Age; IVF: In Vitro Fertilization; IVH: Intraventricular Hemorrhage; LBW: Low Birthweight; NEC: Necrotizing Enterocolitis; OR: Odds Ratio; ROP: Retinopathy of Prematurity; SE: Social-Emotional Development; VLBW: Very Low Birthweight.